Fact of the day

Information is the most powerful weapon.

Monday

Fact N°
1658

The most successful comic strip in history began under the name Li'l Folks.

Charles Schultz published the first Peanuts strip under the name Li'l Folks in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in October of 1950. The comic ran for half a century, with almost 18,000 strips published in all and a worldwide readership of over 350 million. The "Peanuts" franchise -- including everything from holiday TV specials to an array of merchandise, would eventually earn Schultz monthly revenues believed to be as high as $30 million, and a total revenue of at least $1 billion.

Tuesday

Fact N°
1659

Diphallia occurs in 1 of 5.5 million male births in the U.S. every year.

Diphallia -- also known as penile duplication -- is the condition of being born with two penises, generally side by side, and the disorder is an extremely rare one. It was first described in reliable medical literature in 1609, and only an estimated 1,000 cases have been documented since then.

Wednesday

Fact N°
1660

The word "filibuster" derives from the Dutch term for "pirate."

Derived from the Dutch term vrijbuiter, the legal maneuver of filibustering -- a means of legislative obstruction, of "pirating" the legislative body to prevent them from voting on a bill -- is no longer the marathon ordeal that it once was. The late Senator Strom Thurmond once spoke on the Senate floor for 24 hours straight in an effort to filibuster Civil Rights legislation, but as of 1975, a Senator can filibuster a bill simply by declaring that he or she is filibustering a bill -- the declaration is enough. Little wonder these days that it happens with such frequency, as many as 15 to 20 times as often during a single legislative session as it did prior to 1975.

Thursday

Fact N°
1661

Contrary to widespread perception, our nails do not continue to grow after death.

The same goes for hair -- both perceptions are incorrect and can be attributed to an optical illusion. As a corpse begins the decay process, one aspect is dehydration. As moisture leaves, the flesh dries, causing it to retract from the fingernails and toenails, as well as hair. As they put it over at Snopes.com, "Because we are accustomed to nails and hair growing, and not hands, feet and heads shrinking, we perceive this change as an increase in one rather than a decline in the other."

Friday

Fact N°
1662

We have an entirely new set of bones every 10 years or so.

Although we imagine ourselves to be as old as the calendar says, the cells in the various tissue systems in our bodies are constantly changing and updating themselves with new cells. The rate for complete turnover in certain parts of the body is faster than in others: skin cells are replaced every couple weeks, red blood cells, every three months, we have a new liver every year or so, and a new set of bones every decade. The only regions without any apparent turnover are parts of the brain and the inner lens cells of the eye.

Saturday

Fact N°
1663

In her lifetime, the average British woman will spend $374,000 on cosmetics.

According to a report published in 2007 by the Times Online, the average British woman will drop the equivalent of $374,000 on cosmetics in her lifetime, with a good percentage of that figure going toward products advertised as being "replenishing creams" and other treatments to counter the effects of aging.

Sunday

Fact N°
1664

One of the most popular perfumes in the world used to contain anal gland secretions from a small African mammal.

One of the most expensive and exclusive perfumes in the world, Chanel No 5, has been on sale since it first hit Parisian shelves back in 1921. It owes its exclusivity to two main factors. The first is jasmine blossoms, grown in France's Provence region and capable of being harvested for fragrance for only a brief time each year. The second is musk secretions that came from the anal glands of the civet cat, an African mammal that's more raccoon than cat. According to Bruce Hood, author of Supersense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable, Chanel replaced this second ingredient with a synthetic when its inclusion in the perfume became widely known.